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Brothers jailed over murder threats

Thu, Apr 19, 2012, 01:00

TWO LIMERICK brothers were jailed by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday for making threats to kill three members of the same family in the city.

Wayne Dundon was jailed for six years and his brother John for 5½ years for making threats to members of the Collins family.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said the threat in Wayne Dundon’s case was more serious because it involved a threat to two offspring.

The brothers remained impassive when the sentences were handed down. The court ordered both sentences to date from April 11th, 2011, when the brothers were taken into custody.

The Dundons were convicted last month of making the threats after a 10-day trial.

John Dundon (29), with an address at Hyde Road, Limerick, was convicted of threatening to kill April Collins (24) at Hyde Road on the weekend of April 3rd and 4th, 2011.

His older brother Wayne Dundon (33), of Lenihan Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, was convicted of threatening Alice Collins that he would kill or cause serious harm to her sons Gareth Collins and Jimmy Collins at Hyde Avenue, Limerick, on September 30th, 2010.

He was also found guilty of the intimidation of potential prosecution witnesses Alice and April Collins with the intention of obstructing the course of justice at the same address and on the same date. He was sentenced to a four-year concurrent sentence for these offences.

The court heard during the trial that mother-of-three April Collins was in a relationship with Gerard Dundon, a brother of the accused men, for eight years until late 2010. There was evidence that the catalyst for the threats was an attack on the home of Alice Collins by four women, including John Dundon’s wife Ciara, on the evening of September 30th, 2010.

Ms Collins gave evidence of calling for gardaí to come to the scene. The court heard some time after 8pm that evening that Wayne Dundon walked into Alice Collins’s sitting room in a “very agitated state” and said his brother John was not happy and would “hunt people down” if his wife Ciara went to jail.

Alice Collins said Wayne Dundon asked her whether her son Jimmy went to a certain local pub every weekend before telling her John Dundon would “give some fool ten grand” to kill Jimmy.

In her evidence to the court, April Collins said she was at home on Hyde Road on March 15th, 2011, when a “very angry” Wayne Dundon entered her home and threatened to kill her, her brother Gareth and her mother Alice Collins.

April Collins told the court that more than a week later, on the night of April 3rd, 2011, she was watching TV on her couch when someone began “bating” down the door. She said she looked out and saw John Dundon, who shouted: “I know you’re in there you tramp, I want to see my nephews, when I get you I am going to f***king kill you.”

Chief Supt David Sheahan, Henry Street, Limerick, told the court yesterday that John Dundon had 40 previous convictions, two of which were outside the jurisdiction. He said most of the convictions were for road traffic offences.

He said John Dundon, who has two young children, was jailed for four years and six months by the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin on January 11th, 2005, for making a threat to kill relating to an incident during a trial at the Central Criminal Court where five people were on trial for the murder of Kieran Keane.

He was also jailed for 20 months by Limerick Circuit Court in January 2005 for threatening to damage property. This related to an incident where he threatened to burn down the house of a prison officer while he was in Limerick prison. A car belonging to the officer was later burned out.

Chief Supt Sheahan said Wayne Dundon, a father of three, has 43 previous convictions, eight of which are in England. He said he was convicted at Limerick Circuit Court on May 13th, 2005 of making a threat to kill.

This related to a threat to Ryan Lee, who was working in a pub in Limerick and who refused admission to Dundon’s teenage sister.

He was also sentenced to seven years for threatening to kill and three years for assault after he launched a violent assault on detectives who were interviewing him at Henry Street Garda station on December 22nd, 2004.

He was also sentenced to two years for assault by a court in April 2002 for an incident when he attacked a garda with a beer keg when the garda was trying to arrest one of his brothers.